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Rahal Had Been Running Fifth When a Pit Incident Limited Him to a 12th Place Finish

RAHAL HAD BEEN RUNNING FIFTH WHEN A PIT INCIDENT ON HIS FINAL STOP LIMITED HIM TO A 12TH PLACE FINISH IN THE BOMMARITO 500 AT GATEWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a close race and the Fifth Third Bank car was pretty good. The Penske’s didn’t take off like we expected. Most of all, I’m disappointed and sad about the last stop. I hope Brad (Ward), our fueler, is okay. He’s a key part of our team and you never want to see that happen. I thought I saw Donny (Stewart, chief mechanic) waving me to go so I went and obviously it wasn’t time to go. We had a (fuel) probe sensor failure early in the race that didn’t prevent that sort of thing so it was my fault. I just went, simple as that.”

FAST FACTS: Rahal started 13th but during the pace laps, Kanaan spun and Rahal moved into 12th before the green. Once the race started, pole sitter Power spun and collected Carpenter and Sato to move Rahal into ninth place. He was able to stay out longer than a few cars and cycled into fifth before his first stop on Lap 61 of 248. He returned to the track in eighth place and held the position until his second stop on Lap 104 during a full course caution for JR Hildebrand. After the restart he passed Ryan Hunter-Reay for seventh on Lap 113. He held the spot until the next pit cycle approached and took over sixth place when Rossi pit before he made his third stop on Lap 158. He returned to the race in sixth place and held it through a full course caution for Chilton who spun. He passed Hinchcliffe for fifth on Lap 183 when the Canadian had to check up behind Dixon and Rahal got around him. During his fourth and final stop under caution for Hunter-Reay who hit the wall, Rahal pitted from fifth place but left the pit with the fuel probe still attached to the car. At the start of the race, telemetry showed that the fuel probe sensor wasn’t working so the team had to take extra precautions for the stops. The probe sensor ensures that the car cannot go into gear to depart until the fuel nozzle is out of the car. Race control ruled that Rahal had to go to the back of the field due to the incident and he moved back to 14th place. He passed Andretti on the restart and later passed Jones for 12th, which he held until the checkered flag… His top finishes this season are wins in Dual 1 and Dual 2 in Detroit and top start is pole for Detroit Dual 1… Rahal is sixth in series point standings with a total of 436. He is 111 points behind leader Josef Newgarden (547), 80 behind second place Scott Dixon (516), 69 behind third place Helio Castroneves (505), 68 behind fourth place Simon Pagenaud (504) and 28 behind fifth place Will Power (464).

NEXT UP: The INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen will take place on Sunday, September 3 and be televised live by NBCSN at 1 p.m. ET.